What pay gap?

The pay gap, if you can call it that, is about a penny when all of life choices are considered. Men and women are different and have different goals. If a woman wants to shape eyebrows and not stand in the sun and be a mason wearing high top boots, then we shouldn't expect their pay to be the same. But there are women (and some men) who earn a living in the government and academe manipulating the statistics. I blogged about this in 2004 during the Bush administration, and even then there was no "gap" but there was gaslighting. When my children were young, I wasn't employed for 10 years. Why in the name of fairness should I have demanded the same pay as a man or woman who had been drawing a paycheck all those years? Their time and effort should count for something! And when I did go back to work, it was part time.

5 Myths to Bust About the Gender Pay Gap | Independent Women's Forum (iwf.org)

Stop treating women like it’s 1975

"You're Invited: Women in Technology Networking Night. Tech Hub’s fourth annual Women in Technology networking night is Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. at the TDAI Ideation Zone (300 Pomerene Hall). "

When I receive messages like this from Ohio State University I do wonder why after almost 50 years of pushing, nudging, cajoling and nagging, we still have to have "women only" events. Don't these people read the statistics about women and graduation rates, business start ups, life expectancy, special laws and set asides, etc.

Even President Trump got on the “women only” bandwagon at the urging of his daughter. In 2017 while the pink hat/hate ladies marched, he passed the "Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act," which encourages entrepreneurial programs that recruit and support women, and the "Next Space Pioneers and Innovators and Explorers Act," which directs NASA to encourage women and girls to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to pursue careers in aerospace.

Women first received more than half of the bachelor’s degrees awarded in the 1981-82 academic year—almost 40 years ago. Today they earn about 57% of bachelor’s degrees. The number of college-educated women in the adult population (ages 25 and older) surpassed the number of college-educated men in 2007--13 years ago.

Or maybe the diversity and inclusion people just have nothing else to do and have to keep building their empires. Or, maybe it's just another way to recruit women to vote for Democrats . . . keep telling them there's a gap, that they are oppressed, that white men especially are their enemy. Democrats hate happy citizens (usually conservatives)--have to find something awful.

Is there a pay gap, are teachers underpaid, and why do Democrats run on issues that are settled law?

“2020 Democratic presidential contender Sen. Kamala Harris is on a mission to close the pay gap for America's teachers, something she says is "not a partisan issue." Harris, who unveiled her new plan to increase the pay for public school teachers nationwide with a $13,500 pay raise, told "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday that "for too long" teachers have been paid "substandard wages" and are "not being paid their value to us as a society."” (CBS News)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kamala-harris-on-closing-teacher-pay-gap-lets-pay-them-their-value/?

Why do Democrats campaign on issues settled in law--will more laws help? Teacher pay gap? Local schools set those salaries, not the Department of Education (a federal agency that doesn't need to exist). Public school teachers according to BLS earn $63/hour (with benefits)--if they lie about teachers, then they lie about engineers and plumbers.

The "equal pay for equal work" law was passed over 50 years ago. When women continued to choose jobs that were easier, less risky, closer to home, and child-friendly, the feminists decided it became "equal pay for equal value" and what is that? Of course, a day care worker's job is valuable, but is it as valuable as an RN with an advanced degree or an entry level teacher?

What happens when you compare women with women? I was a librarian, one of the lowest paid jobs that requires an advanced degree, and dominated by women. Who is the commissar of jobs in DC who will decide that entry level Alabama librarians should be paid the same as chefs with 20 years experience in Chicago or a petroleum engineer in Alaska?

The gender gap is a mommy gap

It's not a pay gap, it's a mommy gap. A choice gap. "43% of highly qualified women with children are leaving careers or off-ramping for a period of time." ("Lean in" by Sheryl Sandburg) And I know this is difficult to understand, but a baby is a whole lot more fun than attending meetings, rushing to catch a plane, or listening to office gossip. So many women cut their hours, at least for a period of time, to enjoy their children rather than put them in day care or send them off to grandma's. That of course, means their salaries don't keep up.

I see my doctor tomorrow--she's only working 2 days a week since she had a baby last year. And it's her choice--it's an all female practice, and I think they are all doing that. Now if you want to study gaps, check out the difference the all female clerical staff who work full time, make compared to the doctors who are working 2/5 time.

Gender Pay Gap

This is nothing new.  Twenty years ago a study involving librarians found out the same thing—choices.  And that was within just one field where all studied had an advanced degree.

“Progressives claim that the pay difference between men and women is caused by sexism that government must redress. But a new study offers compelling evidence that the choices and priorities of women account for much of the disparity.”  Wall St. Journal, Nov. 23, 2018

There’s a pay wall so I won’t provide a link, but I’ll snoop around to see who the editors are citing.  But here are some recent 2016 -  2018 stories on the subject.

https://www.louderwithcrowder.com/the-gender-pay-gap-is-explained-by-womens-choices-say-the-young-turks/

“Jordan B. Peterson has discussed this pressure women face at length: years 25-35 are exactly when one gets their career going, but also the best biological window to have children. Women who work through those years see a huge financial payoff, but may miss out on the child-bearing window. And women who choose babies will miss out on the profit-reaping window.

But the choice is still up to the woman. It’s not rampant sexism which explains the pay gap. A woman’s choice explains the pay gap. Can we stop blaming sexism in the workforce for at least this issue? Please?”

I loved my career, but there are few days at work that are worth bundling up the baby, struggling with a car seat, dropping him off at a sitter/daycare where the woman in charge won’t love him as much as you do.

This 2016 article was cited in November 18 at a business journal, and may have caught the eye of the WSJ.

It says, and I concur: https://www.chicagobusiness.com/opinion/why-do-women-earn-less-we-choose

“Here's what Goldin's research shows: First, there's almost no gender wage gap among younger workers: Women in their late 20s make 92 cents for every dollar a comparable male worker makes. But women in their early 50s make just 71 cents compared to comparable male workers, according to Goldin's research. Why does that matter? Because it indicates that the gap is better explained by differences in experience between men and women over their life cycles than by gender.

Second, the gaps differ by industry. When Goldin analyzed college-educated, white-collar workers, she found that for those in science and tech, the gender wage gap is remarkably small, but for lawyers, along with those in business and finance, the gap is much wider. Goldin's research notes that female MBA holders with children shift to positions with lower pay but more flexibility. Half of female MBA holders studied who work part time are self-employed, mainly because of a lack of existing part-time opportunities. Similar trends hold true for women with law degrees.”

I’m surprised Goldin can keep her job! 

Because they lost the election

In 2015 the Census reported "changes in income, poverty, and health insurance coverage in the United States between 2013 and 2014. The main takeaway is that income is still stagnant. The median income in 2014 was $53,657—essentially unchanged for the third consecutive year, but 6.5 percent lower than in 2007, before the recession, and 7.2 percent lower than in 1999." All that recovery Obama bragged about, that hope and change, was for the top 1% and those with investments. So why is the left raging in rent a mobs about Trump when he's been president for 3 weeks, and we had Obama for 8 years? (Mother Jones, Sept. 16, 2015) Because they lost the election.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took to social media to quell what it calls "dangerous and irresponsible" stories that allege the agency is executing "roundups" of illegal immigrants for deportation.
Untrue, ICE said in a tweet.

ICE arrested nearly 700 illegals over recent operations, saying 75 percent of those had criminal records. One President Obama operation alone in 2012 netted 350 percent more illegal fugitives."

Why does the left rage and pass along these stories then? Because the protests have nothing to do with illegal immigration. They lost the election.  (Newsmax.com, Feb. 17)

There's another women's march coming up--not sure if it's about inequities or Trump.  Women with the same education, marital status and position of the same age and geographic area are earning more than men of the same status. Are they going to strike to earn less? A 2009 report commissioned by the Labor Department that analyzed more than 50 papers on the topic found that the so-called pay gap “may be almost entirely” the result of choices both men and women make. In 147 out of 150 of the biggest cities in the U.S., the median full-time salaries of young women are 8% higher than those of men in their peer group. In two cities, Atlanta and Memphis, those women are making about 20% more.

In Obama's final year women were 35 percent more likely to live in poverty than men. So why are they mad at President Trump who's been in charge 3 weeks?  Because they lost the election.

Hillary spreads lies on the campaign trail

Notice, Hillary has been saying "equal pay for women's work," not for same work, or equal effort, or same position--and that's not even the law. Female surgeons earn more than female pediatricians. Female Librarians earn higher salaries than female library clerks. Female McDonald managers earn more than female cashiers. Female Target and trans female execs who have their own private restrooms make more than female middle school teachers (who make a hefty $57/hour, btw). Female engineers earn more than female daycare workers to watch their children 15 hours a day. Do you see a theme? If there are female linemen and female demolition workers, they make more than male retail clerks and male truck drivers and male nurses. Hillary LIES. In most major metropolitan areas single, college educated women make more than their male peers. But her own staff do not have pay equity.

The pay gap. Does it really exist?

          
When my Grandmother Mary wanted to be a school teacher in the late 1800s she was turned down by the Ashton school board because she lived at home with her father (her mother had died in 1896), and the thinking in those days was if a man could support her she shouldn't be taking a job from a man who might be supporting a family. I even encountered this in the 1960s when applying for a graduate assistantship--I was married, my competition was not.  Sort of like we feel today about immigrants getting the jobs we think citizens should have.  

Today we have laws and guarantees for equal pay like Iceland and have had for decades. If Iceland has high gender equality, they are probably doing the same jobs. We don't have laws (yet) demanding equal results for a B.A. in Social Studies and a PhD in Computer Science or for a woman who doesn't drop out for 10 years and one who did (as I did). For almost 40 years, women have outnumbered men in enrollment in college, but they are still not selecting the difficult and well paid degree programs. Also, highly educated women tend to marry men of the same calibre, and thus don't always enter the work force at the same rate as less wealthy women and stay home to raise their children who then do the same. For each group of college grads marry college grads, or doctors marrying doctors, or lawyers marrying lawyers, the gap widens between their families and those women who didn't go to college, or didn't marry at all before having children.

When everything is taken into consideration, like willingness to move, or to take unpleasant assignments (like travel) to get ahead, or to negotiate salary, there's almost no difference (in same job with same requirements in education). Think about it; if employers could get women to work for less for the same job, why would they hire men?  When I asked my boss why a male librarian colleague with the same work experience and education made more than I did, he told me, "Because he asked for more."

The median annual wage for high school teachers was $56,310 in May 2014., and for elementary $53,760, but based on hourly rate, they do much better than accountants and architects according the BLS. More men take the secondary position and are less common in elementary (although I remember 2 in the school my children attended in the 1970s).  Is that a pay gap or a choice?  Should people who teach compliant children the basics of their ABCs and math really make as much as people who teach "children" taller, smarter and with more discipline problems who are studying chemistry and physics?

The next time you go to the doctor even for a "wellness exam" like I did this week,  take a look at the women in the front office doing scheduling and billing, and compare them with who you see in the back doing x-ray or blood draw or stress test or bone density. There will be no men in the front, but about 1/3 to 1/2 of the tech staff will be male. What pays more? That which requires more education. How are these positions viewed in statistics? They are lumped into one category. There will even be a difference between the women in the front and those in the back--and it's very noticeable--particularly their weight and age.

HT Connie Dunn for the discussion that started on FB.